keerai Thanni Saaru

Keerai (=green) Thanni (=water) Saaru (=gravy)
The recipe swirls almost from 4 to 5 generation in my family. My great-grandma was a pretty good cook that is what I heard. She left the world when I was one year old. She worked as a school teacher, so she shared her recipes to my grandma who was a stay at home mom! They have never written in paper any recipes, just cook and show so on the recipe comes down by generation. Finally, I am putting down in word (world) until the blogosphere stays alive!
Originally the recipe is Non-vegetarian, they add small shrimp in the gravy. But I will be the first one who modified into vegetarian by just skipping the shrimp; I bet the taste didn’t change. The gravy is prepared with the rinsed rice water (arisi mandi), very mild in spice and watery! Being a kid, we always look forward for this gravy at least once in a week in my home. When my mom does the gravy she makes sure there is another backup one. We end up drinking like soup and leave an empty vessel for my parents. Now I prepare in my home but veg version, my son enjoys equally as I do! Our ancestors created with love and affection, taking care of the health and keeping in mind the taste of the kids with few ingredients. Whenever the dish reaches our table, I couldn’t let think my family and my evergreen memories flourish! 



Note:The gravy should be thin, mild spice and always with green! Sorry don’t try to spice up this gravy should not!




Non-veg: try to add small shrimp/Prawns while the gravy boils.
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Before preparing the gravy
Soak the raw rice with 1 cup of water for 15 min, rinse the raw rice and collect the water in a bowl we call it "arisi mandi".
Ingredients:

Arisi mandi (rice rinsed water): 1 cup
Spinach or any Green (I used palak)/ In India we use Arai keerai, mulai keerai: 1 cup firmly packed
Onion: 1 small
Tomato:1 small
Green chillis split in half: 4 to 5
Ginger-galic paste: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 2 tsp
Coconut: ¼ cup (ground into paste- or can even use coconut milk)
Water: 3/4 cup
Salt: required

Seasonning:
Oil:
1 to 2 tsp
Mustard : ½ tsp
Cloves:2
Cinnamon stick: 1/2

Cooking method

Start the pot by heating the oil, add the mustard seeds once it cracks, and throw the cloves, cinnamon stick.
Start adding the onion, green chilies, once it turns translucent, add the tomatoes, when they are cooked and start leaving the oil, add the Ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappear.
Add the rice water (arisi mandi), green (spinach), coriander powder, coconut ground paste (or coconut milk), adjust the salt and add ¾ cup of water. The gravy should be thin! When it starts to boil, let it cook 3 or 4 min and switch off the stove. Serve Hot over plain rice.


The recipe goes to Cooking with Kids: Love hosted by Jigyasa & Pratibha in the memories of Pedatha, event originated by Sharmi.
Add plenty of love in Ingredients list, any ordinary dish will become extra-ordinary. That is what our ancestor did!

Comments

Kayal said…
This appears to be so simple and delicious. I have never seen this keerai and ginger garlic paste combo anywhere. Thanks for sharing this. Will try it with my junior
Finla said…
This is a new dishe for me, i didn't evenknow you could use rice water for making curries.
I like the veg version, but i am sure i will love them with shrimps.
Unknown said…
this sounds so good..will try it today....
Lakshmi said…
Very interesting recipe Cham. Even I have few dishes which carries nostalgic memories esp those which associate to grandmother :)
Priya Suresh said…
I do still thanni saaru which is from grandma too, i used to prepare by adding shrimps..my watercress thanni saaru with shrimp is still in my draft..Looks delicious, need to try ur vegetarian version soon...
jayasree said…
Thats one simple dish yet very tasty. Good that u remember and cook these traditional dishes.

I found arisi mandi used in most of the chettinad recipes too. Should try cooking with arisi mandi.
Deepthi Shankar said…
I always love these kinda old recipes .. we find so much comfort in them .. Iam yet ti have lunch, this dish is making me hungry
Dershana said…
Sounds really yum, Cham. I've heard of this without the coconut with just the mandi.
lubnakarim06 said…
Sounds completely new.....Looks yummylicous....
notyet100 said…
this is new for me,..thnks for sharing,..and ya perfetc for the event,..
Raks said…
I too have one thanni saaru recipe in my archive,quite different than this,only we too use arisi mandi,and some specific keerai for this...the intention is the same,to include mild spices,use greens..like that :) Our ancestoers always come up with right things for reasons!!
This sounds great too,I will try it out some time(Veg):)
FH said…
I am so happy to see "saaru" here, a very Kannadiga word usually! :)

Masala is different and mild, must try. Unfortunately for me, I never written down any everyday dishes from my grandmas, only the special dishes. You did a wonderful job posting this, always makes me happy to see traditional dishes, love to learn to make those! :)
Sunshinemom said…
Very nice and tasty recipe, Cham! I learnt about arisi mandi during FIC green when I received two recipes featuring mandi.
ranji said…
Such a long name for a simple dish :)...Love this dish..i make a similar dish with lauki and pappaya..tastes great with rice..
AnuSriram said…
Looks lovely! Healthy and delicious!
Sujatha said…
sounds so traditional and authentic! I'm a big fan of authentic recipes.. Nice of you to share your grandmother's recipe for one more generation.. :)
Anonymous said…
Awesome..am completely new to this..Its healthy and yummy.
Laavanya said…
Oh Cham.. you won't believe how tempted I am to make this right away... so nice of you to share your great-grandmother's recipe. I've used the mandi to make vendakai mandi it does add to the taste a lot. Am planning to give this recipe a try very soon.
CurryLeaf said…
Dish full of memories and filled with love is definitely healthy and perfect for kids.The dish is new to me.It is definitely healthy and perfect with hot whicte rice or as you said as a soup.
Usha said…
This seems simple and delicious...it is so wonderful you are sharing your grandmother's recipe :-)
Varsha Vipins said…
Such an interesting n authentic recipe Cham..I wud love adding prawns to it..:)
Vaishali said…
Glad you turned it vegetarian, Cham. This saaru sounds absolutely delicious, and thanks for sharing a valued family recipe.
Recipeswap said…
I love recipes that have been passed down from generations,they just taste so good.This is completely new to me.....
Vijitha said…
Simple n yummy! we make this very often Cham. Looks nice.
Andhra Flavors said…
your keerai looks delicious. this keerai name is new to me.
Anonymous said…
Yeah, never thought of garlic and ginger adding to this cheerai.. nice one..! :)
Unknown said…
OMG so very helthy recipe cham very intresting and new to me thank you so much for sharing will sure try and tell you
sounds delicious and tasty dear.. new dish to me by its name also.
gtyuk said…
Hi Cham,
I love this curry; We call it Thanni Saaru at home; it's exactly the same preparation as yours and as you mentioned, it's all the more delicious when prawns/Shrimps are added to it! Mmm...that's yummy!
gave me an idea for dinner!!!
Unknown said…
That is a new recipe :) Using rice water looks like a great idea, I guess if you use rice with a lot of bran, it will be more nutritious too. Love this simple dish. Adding shrimp seems like a yummy way to make this dish. Grandmothers always have that special touch in whatever they prepare :)
Nithya Praveen said…
Cham this is very simple and a healthy one...as u said adding loadsa love to any dish makes it heavenly.All these grannies recipes are a sure hit all the time.Reminds me of my granny who is 90 and still shares her recipes with me.
CurryLeaf said…
I got the ener G Powder from amazon.com,Cham.I have heard that whole foods may have this or any organic/health food store.It is not available in Costco though.So I purchased 2 pkts of this from amazon.com.
Sum Raj said…
wooo..looks great cham..nice to know u still keep up ur great grandma's recipe...its somthing special.
Malar Gandhi said…
Wow, family recipe sounds very interesting to me. I am will try this for sure..
A_and_N said…
I love keerai and will surely try this soon
Divya Kudua said…
I love the name..;-).This is a new dish to me..but saru of any kind appeals to me and seeing the pics,I'm sure I'd be licking it off the bowl..lovely!!
suvi said…
new one for me, but sounds so nice and easy!
Raaga said…
I had never heard about this. But it looks and sounds great.
Anonymous said…
Very new recipe... not for u but for me:-)Rice water to make dishes!! Healthy too.
Sharmi said…
Thanks for a beautiful post and recipe. looks awesome. the roundup is out.
Anonymous said…
Looks and sounds delicious, even without the shrimp, and a real treasure handed down over generations.
Chutneytales said…
Thanni Saru is my fav soup.My grandmother makes it with Drumstick leaves/Agathi keerai.Your version sounds interesting.Will make this for sure..
I will post my grandma's version soon :)
Anonymous said…
Hi Cham,
I am so happy that I came across your blog. I am from Pondicherry and I love Thanni Saaru. I make this but not with rice water. I will try making it with rice water.

Divya.
Unknown said…
This is one my favorite dishes from childhood. I almost never had this in last 9 years of my US life. Since I have a drumstick tree at my home in Phoenix, I am going to try this recipe today with my wife.